Old Friends, New Enemies
by Goody
Summary: A simple job becomes complicated when an old mark recognizes one of the team at a party and decides to settle an old score.
1. Prologue

**Title: **Old Friends, New Enemies

**Rating:** PG-13 for violence and swearing

**Author's Notes:** My next multi-chapter Leverage fic, hope you enjoy. The only thing I am concerned about is my complete lack of knowledge about Nepal, so if you could just go with me on this I would appreciate it. Thanks.

**Disclaimer:** I do not profit from this fic in any way, unless pure enjoyment is a measurable expense now. I do not own Leverage or the team, though they are nifty!

**Spoilers:** Not in this chapter and I don't think any later.

**Setting: **Season 1, any time before the First David Job.

**Summary:** A simple job becomes complicated when an old mark recognizes one of the team at a party and decides to settle an old score.

* * *

The party was fancy which meant Eliot was forced to choke down champagne instead of beer as he mingled, but the food was good and the women were beautiful so he wasn't about to complain. Across the room he saw Sophie chatting up their target, Wellington Richmond of Nepal. He was an inherently wealthy man who didn't do much with his time and money other than have parties, shop around for rare antiques for his collection, run some shady business deals and oh, assault and rob anyone who wouldn't agree to do business with him.

The team was excited about this job, not just because they were going to get justice for their client, but because there was no con involved, it was a straight up robbery, plain and simple. Their clients, the MacGregors, who were not wealthy by any means had owned, through inheritance, a rare and pretty damn valuable Faberge Egg that they had originally had no intention of selling until their child got sick with cancer, then got better and then got sick again.

The team had known they were taking this case as soon as they had heard the words "child with cancer" and it didn't hurt that the rest of their story was pretty heartbreaking as well. When the kid had gotten sick the second time they had decided to sell the Egg to pay for the medical bills. Their current target happened to be a collector of Faberge's work and made them an offer, one of the lower ones they had received so they refused much to the anger of Wellington Richmond. The next night two men hired by Richmond broke into their home, stole the egg and beat up Mr. MacGregor when he tried to stop them, putting him in the hospital with his son. The police had investigated but nothing could be tied to Richmond in any way since the thieves were never caught and speculation alone meant nothing. Even just looking at the greasy lowlife now Eliot wanted to cross the room and beat some morality into the man, but that would blow their cover so he just smiled at the blond woman he was chatting up and prayed it wasn't another of Nate's ex-wives.

"_Eliot, it sounds like Richmond is getting a little too cozy with Sophie, why don't you go introduce yourself_," Nate suggested over the comms after hearing the whispered compliments their mark had been feeding to Sophie for the past ten minutes.

Bringing his cup to his lips to cover up his response, Eliot replied, "On it."

He too had noted the man's hand on the small of Sophie's back and had been just about to go over. They were only here for reconnaissance after all so Sophie wasn't required to form any kind of relationship with this guy. They were going to steal the Egg back, and whatever else they found in the vault, the next night so if he ended up on Richmond's bad side it didn't really matter.

Grabbing a second champagne flute he approached the two, grinning affectionately as he tapped Sophie on the shoulder. She smiled in relieved recognition as he offered her the drink, "Here Sue, you look a little dry."

"Thank you Johnny, I was just thinking the same thing. Mr. Richmond, this is my brother Johnny that I was telling you about. We're partners in the family oil company," Sophie explained with a flawless Texas accent. When they had decided to go in as siblings she had graciously offered to play a Southern Belle so Eliot wouldn't have to change his dialect – also, his British accent had been absolutely terrible, which left them little choice.

"Mr. Richmond, very nice to meet you, fantastic party," Eliot greeted enthusiastically, carefully positioning himself between Sophie and their mark.

Richmond's eyes didn't match his smile as he shook Eliot's hand, not appreciating the man's intrusion but unable to say anything.

"You as well, your sister was just telling me all about you and your business," Richmond said with an easy smile.

"You'd best stop her quick then, she can talk oil all night," Eliot suggested. "She can't seem to leave it in the boardroom and enjoy herself."

Richmond smiled but there was an awkward silence for a moment and it only took Eliot a few minutes to find an excuse to steer himself and Sophie away from their host.

When they finally got away Nate asked them, "_Are we set_?"

Sophie looked at Eliot while she responded to make it look like they were talking, "Bugs are all planted and I've got photos of every security measure I've seen."

"I got the guard rotations down," Eliot reported as well.

"_Good. Parker's already done her prep work and she went out through the kitchen. Get yourselves out of there and head home,"_ Nate instructed.

Eliot smiled upon hearing this, eager to leave the annoyingly formal event.

"Shall we?" he asked as he stuck out his elbow in a half joke for Sophie to take his arm as they left.

She grinned and accepted however as they headed for the coat check, "Yes please, I need to walk with an actual gentleman after spending time with that disgusting man."

"_Did you just call Eliot a gentleman? Seriously?"_ Hardison asked in disbelief.

"Hey!" Eliot warned.

"_Look, no offence, you're a great guy just … where does the 'gentle' part come in exactly_?" Hardison expanded quickly.

Eliot shrugged, he had a point, which caused Sophie to laugh as well as they walked arm in arm out of the party.

Neither of them noticed the man watching them from the balcony over the party floor, fists clenched and eyes narrowed in angry recognition. As the couple started to disappear from sight the man snapped his fingers for his bodyguard to come over.

"The couple that is leaving, the long-haired man and the woman in white, have them followed, discreetly. I want to know where they're staying and who they are, or at least who they are saying they are," the man ordered.

The guard nodded his understanding having performed many similar tasks in the past for his boss and walked away without question.

The dark-haired man turned back again just in time to see his targets vanish out the door. His teeth grinded as he caught a last look at that familiar hair and shape before he pushed himself angrily off the railing.

"Dear Isabella, it's been far too long."

TBC

Well that can't be good, can it? Tune in next time for more! Thanks for reading!


	2. The Introduction of Mr Power

**Title:** Old Friends, New Enemies 2/?**  
Rating**: PG-13 for violence and swearing**  
Author's Notes:** You are all either going to love me or hate me. I'm eager to see which.**  
Disclaimer**: I do not profit from this fic in any way, unless pure enjoyment is a measurable expense now. I do not own Leverage or the team, though they are nifty!**  
Spoilers:** Not in this chapter and I don't think any later.**  
Summary**: A simple job becomes complicated when an old mark recognizes one of the team at a party and decides to settle an old score.

* * *

The next day the team gathered around a layout table in the living room of the spacious cabin they had rented to work out the details of the job.

"All right, these guard rotations are too tight for us to avoid them completely so Eliot you're going to go with Parker up until this point, then station yourself here to keep the zone clear," Nate instructed as he pointed out the locations on the map of Richmond's home that they had laid out.

Eliot nodded in understanding, silently amused how Nate always referred to him bashing heads as "clearing the zone."

"From there Parker should have a pretty clear run of it," Nate concluded.

"I just need to point out _again_ that I _cannot_ turn off these lasers," Hardison reminded them all as he indicated the open area just outside the vault door. "They are on an independent, battery powered system. They're not connected to anything so I can't shut 'em down. So Parker has to sneak through them all cat-like to get in and then sneak back out them again … with the merchandise."

Leaning casually against the table, Parker sighed, "I'm kind of getting insulted that you keep bringing this up like it's a big deal. I told you, it's not a problem. I'm flexible."

"What is a problem for me is that this doesn't hurt Richmond enough," Sophie pointed out, no longer looking at the plans. "He never paid for the Egg so losing it isn't a huge loss for him, it's just a gain for our clients. It's not enough."

"Well, later on we could have Eliot beat him up the same way he did Mr. MacGregor, that should even things out," Hardison suggested, half joking.

"Gladly," Eliot mumbled. "I had a hard enough time restraining myself last night when I saw the guy."

"Maybe something a little less drastic," Nate requested.

"Well, I could try to grab one or two more things while I'm in there, you guys said he has dozens of antiques and stuff, right?" Parker asked, agreeing that this plan didn't cause Richmond enough pain for what their clients had been put through.

"No, I don't like the idea of you carrying more than you have to through the lasers," Nate replied, thinking over their possibilities for a moment.

It was Eliot that came up with a surprising suggestion, "We could blow the rest up."

Parker's eyes lit up.

"Excuse me?" Nate and Sophie both exclaimed with horrified indignation.

"You said there's over fifty-million dollars worth of artwork and stuff in that vault, right? So, we steal back our client's merchandise and blow up the rest. Most of it's gotta be stolen so it won't be insured and he won't be able to replace it," Eliot explained to a still gaping Nate and Sophie.

"Not to play devil's advocate, but if we do blow the rest up it will cover our tracks, Richmond won't know what was stolen specifically so he won't go after the MacGregors again. It'd be a good way to protect the client," Hardison pointed out.

Sitting next to Hardison, Parker could hardly contain her excitement as she listened to the boys argue in defense of the bombing, "Please, please, please, please, please."

"But there's … there are dozens of priceless … he has a Monet, half a dozen other Faberge Eggs, a Renoir for God's sake!" Sophie exclaimed, beyond indignant that they would even consider destroying such irreplaceable artwork. She sent a strong glare in Nate's direction when he didn't speak up right away, "You can't seriously be considering this."

He shrugged slowly, "It would protect the client. It could be a small, well placed bomb."

Sophie felt like she couldn't breathe which Nate picked up on quickly, "Or maybe we could rob the vault twice."

The argument died quickly when Eliot held up a hand to hush everyone and looked towards the front room, listening closely.

"A car just pulled up," he announced as he moved towards the window to peer out through the curtains.

Usually a car pulling up wouldn't be a big deal but northern Nepal was not a bustling metropolis of activity, it was a mountainside exclusively for the wealthy which was why the team had rented the huge cabin instead of staying in a hotel. They should have been the only ones to ever have a reason to drive up this way so the unknown visitor put them on alert.

"Are we expecting anyone?" Hardison asked nervously.

Everyone shook their heads and Eliot announced from the window, "It's a guy in a suit, I don't recognize him. He doesn't look lost."

The man, probably in his early thirties with short brown hair, was casually stepping out of a black Mercedes and striding towards the door.

One guy wasn't too much to worry about just yet so Nate decided to continue with their cover stories for now, "Okay, Sophie, Eliot you're Mr. and Ms. Hail. Parker, Hardison, we are ourselves and have no reason to be here so move it, next room now."

As Nate, Hardison and Parker packed up the computer and blueprints of Richmond's home, Sophie spot-checked her hair and outfit in the mirror and then looked over Eliot in horror. He had not been ready to portray his character and was outfitted in jeans and a black t-shirt. Running to the coat rack she grabbed a suit jacket and handed it to him.

"Here, put this on," she instructed.

Eliot resisted the urge to roll his eyes, not seeing how a blazer would cover up the fact that he was wearing a t-shirt, but he didn't argue with her and finished doing up the buttons just as the doorbell rang. Sophie nodded to him that she was set to play her part and he checked to see that the rest of the team had filed into the backroom and out of sight before he opened the door.

Their visitor stood waiting patiently and smiled easily when Eliot appeared in the doorway.

"Can I help you?" Eliot asked, sizing the man up. He had the same kind of build as Eliot but was two inches taller, his suit was tailored but not too nicely and most importantly to Eliot his hands were resting loosely behind his back, hiding anything he might be holding.

"Yes, I'm looking for Mr. and Ms. Hail, I have a message for them," the man said in an almost too pleasant tone.

Eliot considered lying but if this was something legitimate he didn't want to ruin their cover so answered, "Well, you found them."

The man's grin widened.

"Excellent."

If Eliot hadn't been waiting for it he might not have been able to react in time as the man swiftly pulled a gun out from behind his back.

"Eliot!" Sophie yelled out instinctively upon seeing the weapon as she stepped back.

Her warning was unnecessary as Eliot struck the man's wrist with an open palm, forcing him to drop the gun before it even got to the height of Eliot's chest. When the gun fell Eliot put his foot on it and kicked it behind him at the same time that he blocked a punch from the surprised intruder, who didn't seem to have been expecting resistance. After blocking another punch Eliot twisted his opponent's arm and pulled him forward, then he brought a knee up hard into the man's gut. Not in the mood to draw this out Eliot grabbed the man's head and slammed it into the doorframe, knocking him unconscious.

After watching the man fall to make sure he wasn't faking it, Eliot turned to Sophie, "That was weird."

Sophie nodded in agreement as she picked up the discarded gun and announced, "It's a tranquilizer gun."

Eliot's eyebrows rose. If someone was after them but was using non-lethal force it probably meant cops of some kind which was good in some ways and bad in others. Intending to find out more Eliot knelt down to frisk their unconscious intruder.

Behind him Sophie pushed down on her earpiece in just the right way to turn it on, "You guys might want to come out here, we may have a complication."

"I hate those," she heard Hardison mumble over the comm line.

"Don't we all," she started to say before her attention was drawn to the doorway where two more armed men appeared out of nowhere. "Eliot, behind you!"

The hitter had been sifting through the first intruder's wallet and had sensed the men approaching just as Sophie yelled. Rising quickly he saw that both men were armed with tasers.

Non-lethal force, he noted again even as he started to move. The men were still several feet away and didn't hesitate to fire as the retrieval specialist headed towards them. Eliot was fast and was able to dodge the electric tendrils of the first shot but that moved him directly into the path of the second one. The pointed electrodes struck him in the arm sending a powerful jolt of electricity through his entire body that sent him down to his knees with a yell of pain as his entire body seized up.

"Ah!"

"Eliot!" Sophie yelled again in concern as she watched the hitter collapse.

In the back of the cabin Nate, Hardison and Parker shared a look of shocked concern when they heard Sophie's first yell and immediately started to head towards the front room.

"Sophie, what's …" Nate's question was cut off when the back door was suddenly kicked open just as they passed it, surprising them all and knocking Hardison to the ground as he was hit in the shoulder by the splintered wood. In moments a half dozen men had surged through the door all armed with tasers or guns which were immediately aimed at the three thieves.

"Hands up, on your knees," one of the men ordered, stepping forward to take charge.

Nate looked to either side of him and saw Hardison rolling up to his knees with some aggressive help from one of the intruders while he rubbed his sore shoulder, complaining, "Hey, easy, no need to get rough. You had an angry childhood I can tell."

Parker's eyes however were shifting from side to side and Nate worried that she might be looking for a make-shift weapon and knew he had to stop her before she got herself hurt.

"Do what they say, both of you," he ordered sternly, looking directly at Parker. Something wasn't right about this but these people didn't seem to be here to kill them which meant there might be room for negotiation. He tried to relate all this to Parker as she looked at him with wide disbelieving eyes before eventually deciding to trust him and slowly putting her hands on her head as instructed.

The armed men were efficient and the three quickly had their hands tied behind them with plastic handcuffs. In the front room however they could still hear the sounds of a struggle mixed with Sophie's screams.

"Who are you people? What do you want?" Nate demanded. He received no answer from the silent men as he was ushered into the next room.

When Sophie saw Eliot fall to his knees she rushed forward, not sure if she wanted to protect him or try to pull him to safety as the two men converged on him, but as she got closer a third man appeared and rushed through the doorway towards her. He easily grabbed her wrist when she tried to hit him and then he pinned both her arms to her sides and held her in a tight bear hug, not hurting her but keeping her completely immobilized.

"Let me go," she demanded as she tried to stomp on the man's foot, but then her attention shifted and her eyes widened in horror, "Eliot, no, stop it! Please!"

Eliot had been electrocuted many times before and though he hadn't really built up a resistance to it, his body knew how to handle it. Therefore when his nervous system was surged with enough energy to knock out most men Eliot just fell to his knees, breathing through the pain and disorientation of the shock treatment. He was however extremely grateful that Sophie had made him put on the suit jacket as the extra layer of clothing had kept the electricity from going directly into his system. Pulling the electrodes out of his arm as quickly as possible Eliot looked down to breathe and compose himself but sensed that his two attackers were nearly on him.

Apparently the men thought Eliot was down for the count though as he saw that they had dropped their spent weapons and one of them was brandishing a pair of handcuffs and reaching for Eliot's arm. The hitter waited until the first man grabbed his wrist then he twisted the grip and hauled down on his attacker as he pulled himself up on to his feet. Eliot's body was shaking from the huge electrical shock but pure willpower urged him to throw a punch to one man's face as he took out the other one at the knee with a swift kick.

The first man went down, clutching his knee miserably but the second recovered quickly from Eliot's hit and tried to kick the retrieval specialist in the ribs. Eliot grabbed his foot with a grunt just as it connected and he twisted it at the ankle, spinning his opponent through the air and sending him face first into the floor. Panting hard, Eliot tried to step back and take a moment to breathe and recover before they came at him again but suddenly there were more men surging through the door, overpowering him with sheer numbers. He landed a punch or two at first but nothing debilitating that would save him.

Eliot tried to block the hits but there were too many men now and his body was reacting too slowly. The first blow that connected was to his jaw and he stumbled into a couch. Before he could even push himself to standing there were punches landing on his ribs, stomach and kidneys. He grunted with each hit but refused to go down completely until a foot connected to the back of one of his knees, collapsing him to all fours. The punches turned into kicks from three different men and Eliot could feel ribs breaking and kidneys bruising. He cried out but he couldn't fight back, his body was so spent that he could barely even protect himself. A harsh kick to the side of the head was what finally knocked him down completely, gasping and shuddering as blood dripped into his eyes and mouth.

The men backed off in relief as Eliot finally seemed to be down and laid there, barely moving.

At the back of the room Nate, Hardison and Parker were marched in, hands tied behind their backs, to see Sophie being restrained and Eliot in a bloody mess on the floor. All three of them immediately tried to surge forward to help or protect their teammate but strong grips on their shoulders from the men behind them held them in place and pushed them onto their knees.

"Eliot!" Parker called out, voicing her concern and also trying to get the hitter's attention so they could see if he was badly injured.

For his part Eliot was no longer thinking so much as acting instinctively. When he had gone down he had protected his head and body, but now that he sensed that he had space his first instinct was to get up, to keep moving. After rolling slowly onto his stomach and spitting out blood, he painstakingly tried to push himself up to all fours, hissing as every muscle protested the idea.

The men who had beaten him shared a look of disbelief, unable to fathom anyone being able or wanting to get up after the beating they had just given. But Eliot wasn't most men and when it was clear he was going to try to stand up the man whose ankle he had twisted earlier fumed with anger.

"Hell with this," the man muttered as he limped towards the fireplace and grabbed a metal poker off the wall.

"No, no, no, no, don't!" Hardison yelled in horror when he saw what was about to happen but it was too late. The other attackers stepped back to give the irate man room as he raised the poker above his head and slammed it down hard on Eliot's back sending the hitter back to the floor with a pain-filled grunt.

"Hey! Stop! He's down! Back off!" Nate yelled as he, Hardison and Parker again tried to move towards their friend, only to be stopped.

"Stop it, please!" Sophie cried out as she was restrained from only a few feet away.

Their protests were unnecessary though. All the air was gone from Eliot's lungs as his shoulders and back exploded in pain and he hit the floor hard, face first where he lay unmoving, barely conscious and desperately fighting for air.

Pleased with himself his attacker threw the poker to the side and delivered a final kick to Eliot's ribs as he ordered, "Stay down!"

"He's down!" Nate yelled again, feeling helpless and useless as Eliot continued to be assaulted. "Son of a bitch, just leave him alone."

The man finally seemed to notice the other three captives and Hardison glared as he looked them over, "That make you feel like a big man, hitting someone who's down?"

"You want to be next?" the intruder asked with a dangerous step forward but before anything more could happen a new voice interrupted them all.

"Marcus, could you please just restrain the difficult one and be done with it?"

All eyes turned to the doorway to see another man had arrived, this one wearing an immaculately well-tailored suit, complete with thousand dollars shoes and five thousand dollar watch and a confident presence which clearly put him in charge of the whole operation. His hair was black but peppered with gray indicating he was at least in his fifties, but his barely wrinkled face was tight and calculating as he looked over his catch.

"Yes Mr. Power," Marcus replied obediently, picking up the handcuffs he had dropped and quickly locking Eliot's arms behind his back. The hitter instinctively tugged at the restraints but didn't have enough energy to do anything else as he continued to struggle for breath, his breathing impaired by his position on his stomach.

"What exactly is this about, Mr. Power, is it?" Nate asked angrily from across the room.

Their captor though refused to turn his gaze towards the back of the room as he was currently locking eyes with Sophie, whose mouth was hanging open in horrified recognition. Taking a step closer the man waved his hand towards her. The man restraining Sophie released her and stepped away while Sophie remained glued to her spot, eyes latched on to their uninvited guest.

"Hello Isabella, it's been a long time," the man said quietly but with an intensity that betrayed the emotions Sophie could read in him – there was sadness, the smallest bit of concern, but mostly there was anger and betrayal.

"Timothy," was all she could breathe out, terrified as her past stood directly in front of her. Unfortunately her past was an angry, powerful man which didn't bode well for any of them at all.

TBC

Hehehe, I'm evil.

I am also very very excited. Just in case any of you don't know, John Rogers, one of the writer/producers of Leverage keeps a twitter page. This is what he wrote today:

"Ep 203 starts shooting today with the same writer/director pair as last year's STORK JOB. Fans of shirtless Kane will be pleased."

Christian will be shirtless in season 2!!!! It's going to be fantastic!!! I'm shallow, I don't care! Weeeeeeee!

This chapter had a lot of fight scenes, I hope they were all clear as I struggled with them. Thanks for reading! We'll learn more about "Timothy" next time!


	3. Collateral

**Title: **Old Friends, New Enemies 3/?  
**Rating:** PG-13 for violence and swearing  
**Disclaimer:** I do not profit from this fic in any way, unless pure enjoyment is a measurable expense now. I do not own Leverage or the team, though they are nifty!  
**Setting: **Season 1, any time before the First David Job.  
**Summary:** A simple job becomes complicated when an old mark recognizes one of the team at a party and decides to settle an old score.

* * *

The moment of stunned silence was broken by an inappropriate giggle and all eyes turned to Parker who quickly set her face back to a neutral expression.

"Sorry," she said unapologetically. "Don't meet a whole lot of bad guys named Timothy."

"Monty Python," Hardison whispered to give an example, enjoying mocking the man even if it was probably a dumb idea. "He reminds me more of the rabbit though."

Unwilling to be taken in by their banter, Timothy just shook his head, "These are the people you now surround yourself with Isabella - fools, thieves and brutes. These are truly the people you care about now? You had so much more when you were with me."

Shaking away her shock Sophie forced herself into acting mode, hating that she had let herself get flustered, "Care about them? They're the hired help Timothy. I decided a long time ago that I'd rather be alone than a prisoner of someone's affections, especially yours."

Timothy smiled in amusement, clearly unaffected by Sophie's ploys.

"And this one?" He pointed towards Eliot. Two men grabbed the hitter by his shoulders and hauled him up on his knees, ignoring his grunts of pain and pulling his head back by his hair to present him to their boss. "Rarely have I seen 'hired help' fight so valiantly. He was fighting for something, for something very dear to him."

Again, Timothy's moment of creepiness was broken by Parker as she exclaimed, "It was probably his truck, he loves that thing."

"Not now Parker," Nate hissed, needing to divert all his attention to the situation at hand which could very easily spiral out of control.

Power was talking again, his eyes narrowed as he spoke with Sophie as though figuring something out, "I saw you together last night, posing as siblings. Your new partner perhaps, or lover. If so you truly have degraded yourself."

"Yeah, cause you're a real prize, aren't you sport," Eliot muttered as he spit out blood, finally gaining enough oxygen and coherence to join the conversation.

A look from Power was all it took to signal Marcus, who gleefully pulled back and punched Eliot hard across the jaw. The men holding Eliot up released him with the hit and he slammed painfully into the floor.

"Hey, that was totally unnecessary!" Hardison shouted in indignation, hating to sit there while Eliot was beaten in front of him. He even tried to rise to his feet again but was held back by one of the armed intruders.

"Timothy, stop this," Sophie demanded with a hard edge. Unlike the others she was not restrained so she pushed through the men guarding the hitter and knelt by Eliot's side to check on him. "Eliot, are you all right?"

She knew it was risky to show that she did in fact care about her teammates but she knew she may only have one chance to do this.

Eliot was blinking to clear his head as she helped him up onto his knees again. He also thought it was stupid of her to check on him, that was until he felt the thin piece of metal that could only be a lockpick being slipped into his hand. Not responding to the item except to slip it between his fingers, Eliot nodded to her slowly, "I'm fine Sophie, guy punches like a girl."

"Sophie? Is that what you go by now? Sophie," Timothy repeated slowly, as though tasting the name. "It suits you."

"Enough about me Timothy, what do you think you are doing, attacking us like this? What do you want?" Sophie asked, standing slowly once Eliot was securely on his knees.

The powerful man laughed, "I imagine you are conceited enough to think that it is you, that I have come to take you back or turn you in for what you've done."

"The thought had crossed my mind," Sophie admitted.

"It's been twelve years Isabella, my foolish longing for you has long since passed and having you sent to jail gains me nothing," he remarked. "After all, what you stole was so small compared to what I have."

Sophie sighed, "So again, what do you want Timothy?"

Timothy nodded, willing to get down to business, "I have an offer for all of you. You are thieves and conmen, are you not? I saw you last night at Wellington's party, I can only imagine you are planning on robbing him."

"Does that concern you?" Nate asked.

"No, not at all, in fact I encourage it. You see Wellington has a certain item that I have wanted for years for my own collection, the Baoteng Sabre," Timothy began.

"Napolean's sword," Sophie said in surprise – they hadn't known their mark had that particular item – it was exceedingly rare and valuable.

"Indeed my dear, as knowledgeable as ever. It is stolen so Richmond does not flaunt its existence but I have seen it – he keeps it in a locked safe, inside the vault. I don't know what you were planning on stealing, but you are now going to steal that, for me. Upon receipt of the sword you are all free to go, no police, no authorities and we never cross paths again," Power said simply as though offering a business opportunity and not negotiating a hostage situation.

"That's it?" Nate asked in disbelief. It couldn't be that easy.

"It's a reasonable offer, we all get what we want … well, almost all," Power responded, eyes taking in Sophie suggestively. "You of course are welcome to refuse and I can drop you all off at the nearest police station."

"It is reasonable," Nate agreed. "Much more reasonable than your welcoming committee here. If that's all you wanted these theatrics and brute force were hardly necessary!"

Nate's anger was shared by all of them – they had been threatened at gunpoint, tied up, Hardison's shoulder was killing him and Eliot was barely conscious – and all this guy wanted was a simple trade off.

"We're thieves for hire," Parker added. "You could have just asked."

"I have no interest in hiring or paying you, blackmail I am fine with though. As for my men, well, you are criminals, I couldn't predict your reactions or your security measures," Power replied. Throwing a disdainful look Eliot's way he added, "They were pathetic to say the least."

Eliot growled and the team thought he might try to attack, but Eliot was barely staying upright as it was, he didn't have the strength to do anything except breathe past the pain pulsating through every limb and stay conscious.

"Timothy," Sophie said slowly with suspicion. "You're a powerful man. If you truly want this item why haven't you taken it already? You surely have the resources."

"That I do, but unfortunately so does Richmond. As much as I want the sword I have been unwilling to risk starting a war with Richmond over it, which would happen if its theft was connected to me in anyway. You will steal the sword, deliver it to me and disappear, all of you and nothing is ever traced back to me," Timothy explained quite reasonably.

"Well Mr. Power, since none of us want to go to jail, we accept your offer," Nate announced, though he was waiting for the other shoe to drop. "So if your men want to untie us, we can get to work."

"It'll take us a few days to finish up our plans though, this changes things a bit," Sophie added quickly, hoping it would buy them time to skip town and get away from Timothy before something worse happened.

Timothy nodded as though having expected as much, "Of course, but don't take too long my dear. Your long-haired friend with the bruises will be staying with me until you deliver the sword, and he might get lonely."

"What?" Sophie exclaimed.

"You can't do that," Nate added, his stomach dropping even though he had been expecting some kind of twist on Power's part.

"He's our hitter, get your own!" Parker yelled at the same time Hardison shouted, "No way, not happening!"

"Like hell," Eliot growled, immediately trying to break free, but in his state a knee to the stomach was all it took to send him back to the ground again, gasping as broken ribs grinded together.

"Timothy, you can't," Sophie repeated forcefully, trying not to sound desperate.

"Really my dear," Timothy started with a shake of his head. "I need some collateral to ensure you are not going to run out on me as I know you tend to do. Besides, out of all of you I mostly want to know where this one is at all times. Once I have the sword you can have him back, or whatever's left of him."

"That's kidnapping, you son of a bitch!" Nate yelled desperately, hating that he was not able to come up with any way out of this situation.

Power sneered, "Then call the police."

"We need him, to do the job. We can't get the sword for you without him," Sophie said, trying a different tactic that wasn't even a lie.

"You're a resourceful girl, I'm sure you'll find a way," Timothy replied smugly. He was clearly a man who loved abusing power over others, and this situation pleased him greatly. "Boys, put our guest in the car, we're leaving and I'm sure his friends have a lot of work to do."

The team fell into shocked silence for a moment after that. None of them had ever felt as helpless as they did as they watched Eliot, barely able to keep his feet under himself, being dragged roughly out of the cabin by two huge men.

"No, put him down! Right now!" Parker demanded almost petulantly as she watched with big eyes and was steadfastly ignored by everyone

"Nate, we can't let them do this," Hardison whispered to their leader, his mind blank on solutions.

"We gotta stop them," Parker added softly to her teammates. "What do we do?"

Nate clenched his jaw hard and shook his head, "There's nothing we can do. For now we have to let him take Eliot, then we'll come up with a plan once they're gone."

"But …" Parker started to protest but Nate cut her off.

"Nobody likes it Parker but we don't have a choice!"

By the front door Sophie could see the anger in Eliot's eyes as he was forced out of the cabin against his will, too exhausted to even try to fight back. Just before he was dragged out the door he turned his head to check over the team slowly as if taking a final look at them all, and then at the last second the hitter turned to Sophie, made eye contact and mouthed the word "run".

Her heart constricted – Eliot wanted them to leave him behind.

"Timothy, please don't do this," she begged a final time. "We'll get you the sword, you don't have to do it this way. He hasn't done anything to you."

Timothy's smile was more cruel this time, indignation lighting his eyes, "And still you want me to believe he means nothing to you. Don't lie to me Isabella, it will not work out well for your friend. Call me when you have the sword."

He handed her a business card with a phone number on it and then followed his men out of the cabin.

As the men left Parker, Hardison and Nate were released but not cut free. Ignoring their bound hands the three rushed to the door standing with Sophie as they watched Eliot forced into the backseat of one of the four cars outside.

Shaking his head slowly, Hardison muttered, "This isn't right."

"No, it isn't, but we'll make it right," Nate assured them, then turned and wiggled his fingers. "Sophie, could you untie us, maybe."

"What?" Sophie was more than distracted as she watched Timothy's car disappear down their long driveway with their teammate held hostage inside. "Oh."

Grabbing a pair of scissors off the layout table she quickly cut them all free while apologizing, "I'm so sorry, all of you. This is my fault, I had no idea Timothy was still in Nepal, in fact I'd practically forgotten about him to be honest. He must have been at the party last night and saw me."

"You can tell us more about him later," Nate said, needing to get straight to work. "Hardison, I'm pretty sure Eliot had his earpiece in, can you activate it remotely and track him so we can find out where he is?"

"Yeah, I can if he's wearing it, give me a minute," the hacker requested as he raced to get his laptop, as eager as the rest of them to get Eliot back.

Parker remained in the doorway for a moment, rubbing her wrists and staring at the spot the cars and Eliot had been seconds before. She looked at Sophie as she asked quite seriously, "What will he do with him?"

Sophie's eyes watered and she shook her head, "I don't know. I haven't seen him in twelve years – he's a different man now."

Parker nodded at this while Nate fumed with frustration, "Hardison, come on, we need to know where he is, now!"

"I'm working on it Nate, the computer's gotta, you know, turn on first," Hardison pointed out as the main screen was still loading.

Nate's pacing was interrupted by Sophie's soft announcement, "He said we should run."

All eyes turned to her and she elaborated, "Just now, before they took him, Eliot wants us to run."

"Well that's not gonna happen," Nate replied strongly. "Eliot's always come back for us. We're a team and we're going to get him back."

"I know that," Sophie said. "I didn't mean that we should run or that any of us wanted to. I just meant that Eliot has escaped captivity before, he might have a plan of his own and just wants us to be ready to run."

"You did slip him that lockpick," Parker pointed out, her keen eyes having easily spotted the pass off. "He might be planning on getting free himself."

"I have no doubt that Eliot is planning his own escape even as we speak but he had been worked over pretty good so let's not plan on him getting away on his own just yet," Nate suggested.

"Okay, I got it, he's wearing his comm. They're about a mile away already," Hardison announced. "You want to talk to him?"

Nate shook his head, "Not yet, we might startle him if something is happening. We don't want to give away that he's wearing it. Can we listen in without Eliot hearing us?"

"Yeah, I can do that," Hardison assured them as they all pressed a hand to their own earpieces to hear what was happening to their friend.

The feed clicked in for them all simultaneously. The noises were confusing at first, there was heavy breathing and movement that was immediately followed by the sound of something sizzling and then a sudden grunted moan. Immediately after that there was the sound of flesh hitting flesh and a shout of pain.

The four thieves shared similar looks of scared concern. These were not the sounds of an escape, these were the sounds of torture and Eliot was getting further and further away.

TBC

Eep! Hope I surprised a few of you with this chapter and I hope you all like h/c because I'm a terrible, terrible person ... to Eliot. Grrr, season 2 come on already!!!!!!!!! Later!!!


	4. Long Car Rides

**Title: **Old Friends, New Enemies 4/?  
**Rating:** PG-13 for violence and swearing  
**Disclaimer:** I do not profit from this fic in any way, unless pure enjoyment is a measurable expense now. I do not own Leverage or the team, though they are nifty!  
**Setting: **Season 1, any time before the First David Job.  
**Summary:** A simple job becomes complicated when an old mark recognizes one of the team at a party and decides to settle an old score.

It was hard for Eliot to resist the urge to try to break free as he was being forced into the car but he knew that it wouldn't do any good in his current state and with the number of men around watching him. The hardest part would be waiting for the opportune moment to strike and make his escape. Looking back at the cabin to see his teammates standing anxiously in the doorway, watching him being led away, he also knew he had to put some distance between himself and the others before he tried anything. He only hoped Sophie had gotten the message and they were going to pack up and run as soon as these cars drove out of here.

Being careful to duck his head as he was pushed into the car Eliot felt his broken ribs and assortment of bruises protest greatly as he fell into his seat. Gritting his teeth to keep from groaning he looked up to see the opposite side door opening. Marcus limped towards the door and then dropped down heavily next to the hitter, still favoring his twisted ankle as the car pulled away. He could just see Power getting into the more luxurious car ahead of them.

"This is going to be fun. I've got just the room for you. Hope you don't mind rats," Marcus sneered as he took out a pack of cigarettes and started to light one up.

"No, it'll remind me of being in this car, it'll be great," Eliot answered dryly.

Eyes narrowed, the big man replied lowly to the insult, "Maybe after we drop you off I'll just come back here, grab that pretty blonde friend of yours and bring her back to keep me company."

Though Eliot's protective instincts told him to throttle the man, his broken body and restrained hands wouldn't allow it so he forced himself to smile as he said, "You can go ahead and try. She'd kick your ass to Burma and back again. She hits harder than you anyway."

Eliot wasn't surprised when Marcus's fist suddenly connected with his jaw, throwing his head to the side where it collided painfully with the car door window. While Eliot hissed in pain the big man lounged further into his seat and puffed on his cigarette.

Pushing himself carefully into a straighter sitting position Eliot glared when Marcus blew smoke directly into his face.

"You know those things will kill ya," Eliot warned. "Not before I do, but still."

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you?" Marcus remarked with a shake of his head, then a twisted smirk. "But you're right, I really should quit."

That said, Marcus reached out to grab Eliot's restrained arm and pushed the hitter up against the car door while he ruthlessly stubbed his cigarette out on Eliot's neck. Eliot grunted as the sensitive flesh sizzled but instead of trying to pull away he moved in closer to his attacker and headbutted him as hard as possible. The awkward angle and his injuries weakened the blow but it was still more than enough to send Marcus back in his seat clutching his forehead.

As the cigarette dropped Eliot gasped. The burn was painful and would continue to hurt until it healed but he had a feeling he wasn't done collecting injuries for the day just yet after what he had done.

Sure enough Marcus was pushing himself back up again.

"Son of a bitch," he muttered angrily and then delivered another punch to Eliot's face, this one straight to the temple. As Eliot's head snapped back his body decided it had taken all the abuse it could handle and he fell to the side unconscious.

Seeing this Marcus grinned as he shook his bruised knuckles.

"Geez Marcus, you can't handle one guy after all that?" another of the hired muscle asked from the front passenger's seat.

"Shut up," Marcus demanded, embarrassed. "I took care of him. He's out."

"Yeah," the driver chuckled. "After he almost took care of you, while handcuffed."

Marcus flinched with anger but had no reply. Turning to look out the window he seethed and wished Eliot wasn't unconscious so he could take out some more frustration on their 'guest'. He turned to look at the hitter who was leaned against the door, eyes closed and blood dripping down his face from several sources. He wasn't faking it, Marcus knew that much, the guy was too cocky to do that so he would just have to wait for him to wake up again and then he could have a little more fun. He checked his pocket – he was going to need another pack of cigarettes.

* * *

"Dammit!"

Nate's yell was punctuated by him kicking over a chair, making the rest of the team flinch as he ran his hands through his hair.

They had all heard the sounds of Eliot being beaten more in the car, probably burned as well, and now they knew their teammate was unconscious and completely unable to help them form a rescue plan. Nate's frustration and concern was shared by all of them, but only their leader took the team's safety as his own responsibility.

"What now?" Parker asked quietly after a moment of silence.

Calming his rapid breathing Nate replied, "Hardison, keep tracking Eliot and record everything coming through his earpiece. Sophie, tell us about this guy."

Put on the spot Sophie leaned back against the couch, crossing her arms defensively as she started her story.

"I met Timothy twelve years ago in Munich. I was running the lost heir scam, playing myself off as a princess of … Estonia maybe. I was young and greedy and Timothy was enamored and wealthy. We spent a few days together in Munich but he lived in Nepal. I mentioned I had never been and he invited me to stay with him. For a powerful man, he was careless. He gave me free reign of his home, though he had me accompany him most places he went it wasn't to watch me, I think it was because he really just wanted me around. Then one weekend he had business in Berlin. I knew my time was up so I faked sick and stayed at his house with a few staff and almost no security."

"He came back and you were gone?" Nate guessed.

Sophie nodded matter-of-factly, not proud but not ashamed of her past either, "Me and about twelve million dollars worth of art. Funny thing was, he never reported me to the police. I could never figure out if it was because he was embarrassed that he had been taken in by a woman or because …"

"He cared about you?"

She nodded.

"Well, it could have been both," Nate suggested, then quoted her earlier words. "After all, you 'make men fall in love with you for a living', it's not ridiculous to believe some of it sticks."

"Does he really want this sword thing or was he just using it as an excuse for all this?" Hardison asked.

"Oh, he wants it, I have no doubt," Sophie replied emphatically. "He has a very impressive collection of rare and antique weapons, Napolean's sword would just be the crowning piece."

"Good," Nate mumbled. "We can use that."

"Why did he take Eliot if he's angry at you?" Parker asked, it wasn't an accusation, they all had people that were after them, she just couldn't understand the reasoning.

Sophie bit her lip, reluctant to respond but finally answered, "Timothy was always a jealous, possessive man. Even if he doesn't want me back I would imagine he still considers me to be his."

"And last night he misread your little show with Eliot and thinks Eliot's your lover and got jealous," Nate finished.

"I think so," Sophie admitted softly. "That or he's just trying to hurt me by taking away someone he thinks I'm involved with."

"That's not gonna be good for Eliot," Parker muttered, eyes wide at the revelation.

"That ain't gonna be good for anything," Hardison commented stiffly, just before his attention was drawn back to his computer screen. "Oh hey, I think they're stopping."

Seeing Eliot's tracking signal stop moving Hardison hit some keys to open up the com line again.

"All right," they heard Timothy's voice order. "Put our guest in the basement, nowhere too comfortable."

"Yes Mr. Power," a second voice replied, followed by the sounds of rustling and movement.

"Where are they?" Nate asked. Hardison brought up a map on his screen.

"Right there."

Sophie squinted as she studied the map, wide-eyed, "Hardison, can you show me an actual picture of the house?"

"Uh, I think so," Hardison replied. It took a few seconds for the hacker to get an exact address and then look up a decent satellite image of the area which he made full screen. "It's right there."

"It's the same house," Sophie announced with hopeful amazement. "It's the same house he lived in twelve years ago."

"You remember your way around?" Nate asked.

"Yes, I think so," Sophie replied confidently having studied the place extensively while she stayed there.

"Okay, that's good," Nate announced, perking up and getting to business. Blueprints of a house were fine, but actually knowing for sure what each room was, was even better. "So we're going to move fast before anything else happens to Eliot. Sophie, stay here and listen to the com channel, let us know if Eliot wakes up. Meanwhile write down everything you remember about that house, every stair, window and decoration. Write it down, draw pictures – all of it."

"All right," Sophie agreed, sitting eagerly to begin working.

"Hardison, Parker, we have to figure out how to break into Richmond's safe, tonight and without Eliot. Without that sword we don't have any leverage on this guy," Nate explained as he left the room to receive the blueprints of Richmond's home.

Hardison and Parker followed him closely with the blond thief calling out, "Are … are we still gonna blow stuff up? I think Eliot would have wanted that – it was his idea."

Taking a deep breath Sophie sat down to study the satellite image Hardison had brought up of Timothy's home. Looking at it brought back a lot of memories of the huge mansion and she started typing furiously, fearful of forgetting even the tiniest detail that came to her.

As she continued to listen to Eliot's com line she remembered Timothy's words – "put our guest in the basement" – and even now she could hear the footsteps of the men dragging Eliot echoing as if underground. She frowned and tried to think harder. She closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead but nothing was forthcoming. She was fairly certain she had never bothered to go down to the basement – it was cold and dank – and she remembered absolutely nothing about it. In short, she had no idea where Eliot was being held.

* * *

Eliot woke up with a painful gasp in the dark and immediately found that he couldn't breathe. He was lying on his stomach in a cold, stone room with paralyzing spasms of pain arcing across his chest as his broken ribs grinded against each other and into his lungs. He could only guess that he had been dropped in this room on his side and when he tipped over onto his stomach in unconsciousness the pain had woken him up. His hands were tied behind him but with a quick push of his feet he was able to roll himself back on his side, taking pressure off one of his lungs for the most part and allowing him to gasp in great lungfuls of air. As he did this he looked around his surroundings but there was nothing to see. The room was pitch black except for the smallest sliver of light creeping out from what he assumed was the door several feet away.

"Shit," he muttered in reference to the pain still shooting through him from several sources.

"Eliot," a female voice said suddenly, directly in his ear. "Don't talk, just grunt if you can hear me."

"Wha…?" Eliot blinked in confusion for a moment but then whispered back, "It's all right Sophie, I'm alone. I can talk."

"Are you all right?" she asked with a sigh of relief.

"I'm fine," he replied automatically as he squinted into the darkness, hoping his eyes would adjust and it wasn't actually as dark as it seemed. He didn't try to move yet, he just breathed to prepare himself for the inevitable pain of getting up.

"We heard what happened … in the car," Sophie told him reluctantly a moment later. He could tell that wherever she was her eyes were shifting awkwardly.

"It was nothing," he assured her with a grunt as he slowly moved into a sitting position, ribs protesting every movement but at least the shock of the taser had worn off. "Guy was being an asshole so I headbutted him. He knocked me out with a sucker punch."

He didn't feel the need to mention the cigarette burn which even now throbbed painfully against his jugular.

The grifter paused while she tried to think of how to respond to that and Eliot took the opportunity to reiterate his earlier point, "And I hope you meant to say "while we were packing and getting our asses out of here, we happened to hear what happened in the car.""

She laughed sadly, "We're not leaving Eliot."

"Dammit Sophie, you can't read lips," Eliot accused.

"I got your message just fine," she said stubbornly. "But we aren't leaving you."

He could hear her walking as she spoke and she must have gotten the others because she announced, "He's awake."

Suddenly three new voices piped into the conversation.

"Eliot?"

"You okay, man?"

"Did you get out yet?"

"He's only been conscious for two minutes Parker," Sophie explained.

"No excuse," Parker replied. No one was sure if she was joking or not.

Meanwhile, Eliot growled in frustration, "What are you all, stupid? Our covers are blown and this guy threatened to call the cops, the Nepalese cops – trust me, you do not want to meet them. Now get the hell out of here!"

"Sorry Eliot, we can't do that," Nate said. "We're getting you out of there whether you like it or not."

"I don't need your help, I can get out just fine on my own," Eliot responded firmly, working hard to keep the sounds of pain out of his voice to back up his point.

"Oh, like in Croatia? How long were you in that jail Eliot? Two months? Three?" Nate pointed out. "I have no doubt you could get out on your own but we don't have that kind of time. We're coming to get you."

"And you're not gonna change our minds, so don't bother trying – we are firmly dedicated," Hardison backed him up. "So you can help us come up with a plan or you can just sit there and we'll let you know when we're on our way, wherever you are."

"It's not a big deal really. This guy stole you, we're just stealing you back," Parker explained simply.

"None of us are leaving Eliot," Sophie added. "You'll just have to accept that."

There was a long silence while Eliot considered this. He growled and shook his head.

"You guys are all idiots," he said with a sigh of resignation that the team took as an agreement to help them.

"You too," Parker piped in with a smile.

"What can you tell us about where you are?" Nate asked getting straight to business.

Eliot looked around morosely, "Not too much. I'm underground but it's pitch black. I'll walk the walls in a minute, get a size estimate. I'm pretty sure it's just the one door but I'll check that too."

"Do you have the lockpick?" Parker asked next.

Gritting his teeth Eliot shifted and reached his fingers into the back pocket of his jeans where he had stored the piece of metal. It didn't take long to realize there was nothing there though.

"Shit, no. They must have searched me while I was unconscious," Eliot reported.

"Anything else we should know?" Nate finished up.

"Nah, nothing I can think of," Eliot replied.

"Okay then, here's the situation – the house you're in, it's too well guarded, even for us and we have no way in, yet. So we're going to rob Richmond's vault tonight and get the sword for a bargaining chip. Unfortunately that means we'll have to wait until tomorrow to get you out," Nate told him apologetically.

"But we'll work as fast as we can," Hardison promised.

Eliot chuckled, "Guys, this place is roomy and well-furnished compared to some of the places I've been in, I'll be fine. Don't go rushing the job for my sake, you gotta do it right or something's gonna go wrong."

"I'd say something already went wrong," Hardison mumbled.

"Don't worry about us Eliot, we'll get it done. Just take care of yourself," Sophie requested unable to help feeling guilty and responsible.

"All right, we've only got a few hours until dark so we've gotta get ready," Nate explained. "Eliot, let us know if you hear, see or remember anything about when they brought you in. Parker, Hardison and I have to get ready, Sophie, stay on the com and keep him company."

"I don't need a babysitter," Eliot grumbled automatically when in truth he was clinging on to the voices of his teammates as a distraction from the dark hole of agony he found himself in.

Sitting back down at the table Sophie smiled sadly, "You don't have a babysitter, you have a friend."

"Fine," Eliot said reluctantly but Sophie could detect the hint of gratitude.

Nate, Hardison and Parker were turning off their coms to finish the plan to rob Richmond's vault so said their good-byes and then they were gone into the other room again.

"You're not part of the break-in now?" Eliot asked when it was just him and Sophie.

"I'm distracting the guards – there's not much to go over. The others have to be extremely careful about the technical parts now though since you're not there to take out the extra security," Sophie explained.

Eliot was now focusing on pushing himself into a standing position but huffed at her words, "I do hate to miss a party."

He was tempted to remind her that Parker has to stay away from the back stairwell, but he told himself that Nate knew what he was doing and would get the thief in and out safely.

As Eliot started to slowly walk forward, grunting with one shoulder always in contact with the wall, he heard Sophie struggling to start her next thought.

"Eliot … I … I'm so …"

"Sophie, don't. We all got people after us. Look what happened at the Mosconi Job – damn Butcher showed up, no one blamed me for that," he pointed out.

She shook her head, "Yes, but he didn't try to hurt anyone but you."

In the dark he could feel that he had reached a corner and then continued walking, now counting his steps, "Still, it ain't your fault."

"Well, actually it is, but thank you for saying that," Sophie replied. "If … if Timothy comes back though, please Eliot just don't antagonize him. He's a possessive, jealous, ruthless man who doesn't take well to disrespect. So … so just stay in one piece until we get there, all right?"

Eliot was so taken aback by the pure concern in her voice he stopped walking. Sure they were a team, some would say a family, but the strengths of the bonds they had formed between them all had never been tested like this before and it was remarkable how firmly they were holding. It amazed Eliot just how worried he was about the team's safety and they were in turn equally stunned by how scared they were about not getting the hitter back alive. It was against every instinct Eliot had to just sit back and wait for rescue. There had never been help coming before, not once in all the situations he had gotten himself into. He depended only on himself to escape and now the team was asking him to depend on them. Sophie must have known it was going to be hard for him to just wait and not fight back and that's why she was asking this of him.

After a few moments he shook his head and started walking again.

"I'll try."

Before she could say anything else he had reached the end of the next wall, "Write this down for me, will ya?"

"Um, okay," Sophie said, not sure what she would be writing.

"The room's about ten feet by six. No furniture, walls are stone but there's nothing built in anywhere, no doors, windows, not even shelves or piping that I can feel," he reported. As he had been talking he had been approaching the only door into the room, its presence only visible by the thin sliver of light coming from beneath it. He was gasping for breath from the exertion of walking but he was trying not to let it show as he pressed his back up against the door to manually inspect the doorknob and lock.

"Okay, one door leading in," he continued in a huff. "Steel with a basic high-duty deadbolt. Parker could probably open it in about fifteen seconds."

Sophie nodded as it seemed Eliot was finished, "I got it. I'll let Nate know when we work on your escape plan. Do you have any idea what the room might be for?"

"No idea. It's just a cold empty room. Maybe storage I guess," Eliot theorized. He was moving back to the side wall now, exhausted and planning on resting in the corner for awhile now that his inspection was over. He dropped his back against the wall, intending to slide down to sitting, but grunted and tensed when his shoulder blades lighted up in agony.

"Eliot?" Sophie called urgently.

"I'm fine," he gritted out after a moment. "Just moved too fast."

He had actually forgotten about the crowbar he had taken across the back. He was lucky he hadn't dislocated or broken anything but the bones and muscles were still deeply bruised and he had to move carefully. When he was finally sitting he sighed in relief – if his wrists hadn't been handcuffed he actually might have been able to get comfortable.

"What do we do now?" Sophie asked as she put away the notes Eliot had told her.

"We wait," he said simply, leaning his head back in exhaustion.

"So Eliot," Sophie started a new conversation with a mildly mischievous lilt. "You never did tell us what you did with your share of the Pierson job cash."

"And Sophie darlin', you ain't ever gonna know either," he replied with a slightly amused smile. Even those few words had winded him again so he took a breath and continued, "I know you want to keep me company and all but I'm not sure I'm up for a whole lot of conversation."

"Oh don't worry," Sophie said offhand. "I can talk enough for the both of us."

Eliot sighed. Now the real torture was about to begin.

TBC

Sorry about the long wait. There's just something about this chapter and the next one that isn't flowing right. I've been proofreading and changing things but something just feels off and I can't tell what it is, maybe it's the lack of humor, I'm not sure. Hope you enjoyed anyway! Thanks for reading! The "Free Eliot Job" starts next time!


	5. Music and Agony

**Title: **Old Friends, New Enemies 5/?  
**Rating:** PG-13 for violence and swearing  
**Disclaimer:** I do not profit from this fic in any way, unless pure enjoyment is a measurable expense now. I do not own Leverage or the team, though they are nifty!  
**Author's Note:** All songs in this chapter are by Christian Kane and are awesome!  
**Setting: **Season 1, any time before the First David Job.  
**Summary:** A simple job becomes complicated when an old mark recognizes one of the team at a party and decides to settle an old score.

* * *

For over an hour Eliot was 'kept company' by Sophie. He painfully listened to her describe all her favorite stage roles, what was so great about them, the challenges of each and then she moved on to a one-sided discussion of other roles she would like to pursue in the future, weighing the pros and cons of each one and why she was perfect for them all. Eliot drowned her out for the most part and focused on flexing and moving as many muscles as possible so he wouldn't be tight and immobile should he have to move suddenly. Thankfully she never quizzed him or asked his opinion on anything she said but he wondered if this was some kind of cruel torture she had devised beforehand with Timothy as it was worse than anything else he had been put through that day.

Thankfully she eventually had to go into town to get a few things for her distraction disguise and Hardison tagged in to take over "Eliot Entertainment" duties.

"I'm so sorry man," Hardison said as soon as Sophie was out the door. "If I had known she was going to do that to you I would have muted your earpiece an hour ago."

Eliot sighed in relief that she was gone, "Just make sure somebody watches her the next time she wants to keep me company. I couldn't even pull the damn thing outta my ear."

"I hear ya man. Well, I don't know if this is what you want to hear or not but I can't actually talk too much myself, I've gotta hack this security system before tonight," Hardison told him apologetically but then continued quickly with more excitement. "But, I did find that iPod I gave you next to your bed and I see that you have uploaded a whopping 30 songs onto it. I can plug it directly into the com line if you want to listen to it for awhile."

Eliot wanted to growl something about Hardison going through his stuff but he was too impressed by the hacker's thoughtfulness to complain, "Yeah, that'd be great, thanks."

"No problem, let me know if it's too loud," Hardison requested and with a few keystrokes the music was playing through Eliot's com line allowing the rest of them to get ready without feeling guilty for leaving him alone in the dark.

Closing his eyes, Eliot was finally able to relax and try to recover from Sophie's hour of torture as the familiar music washed over him.

Nate had been walking through the room as Hardison had been setting up the iPod and asked, "How's he doing?"

Hardison half shrugged, "Good, I guess. Kind of ridiculously good because I know if it was me I would be crying and begging for my mama right now. If I didn't know better I'd think he was just out somewhere, not tied up in some psycho's basement."

"Well, as much as we don't like to think about it, Eliot's not unaccustomed to situations like this. He'll keep his cool until we get there," Nate commented but then couldn't help but ask, "What kind of music does Eliot listen to?"

"Damned if I know," Hardison replied, frustrated as though he had tried to find out as well. "None of the songs are labeled, they're just numbered. Just a second."

After hitting a few keys the music started to play through Hardison's speakers:

_If you could hear it in my voice  
And see it on my face  
You left me with no choice  
But to leave you for the chase_

The song had a clear twang to it and was little more than a singer and a guitar.

"Country, what a surprise," Hardison mumbled.

"It sounds familiar but I can't place it," Nate said as he listened.

"That's Eliot and his mysteries for ya," Hardison replied, having almost given up trying to figure the hitter out.

"I suppose," Nate said distractedly. The song was very familiar, full of honesty and regret, but he didn't have time to analyze it, they all still had a lot of work to do to get ready for the job that night and it didn't help that they were all particularly unfocussed that day. It was beyond frustrating for them to be able to talk to Eliot but not help him in any way as he sat alone and hurt in some dark, cold room. Even though to Eliot it seemed like they were going above and beyond what they had to do to help him, to the rest of the team it felt like they were doing practically nothing. All any of them wanted to do was break Eliot out now before anything worse happened, but they all had to constantly remind themselves that the only way they could do that would be to get the sword first or else they had nothing to bargain with. It also didn't help anyone's mood or focus that none of them had eaten anything that day other than a snack here and there. Nate had suggested they all eat something substantial before the job but knowing that Eliot hadn't been given any food or water since being dragged away, none of them could bring themselves to sit down for a meal.

After Hardison's turn Parker took over com duties to keep Eliot company. She knew it would be too tiring for him to talk back much but said she didn't mind and that she would just pretend she was talking to her plant, which mostly didn't respond as well. Eliot chose not to question the 'mostly' part of that sentence and just let it be as Parker described a few of her best break-ins to him. Eliot actually enjoyed this one-sided conversation though as he picked up a few tricks that he might be able to use on later jobs.

Around 10pm the remaining members of the team gathered around the layout table for a final run through of the plan. Eliot had been missing for 12 hours already and emotions were running high. After taking turns talking with him to keep him company they had all noticed how the pain and exhaustion in his voice had been getting more pronounced with each hour. Now they were ready to get moving, motivated beyond anything they had ever felt before to get this job done. Before they got started Hardison went to his laptop and tapped into Eliot's com line.

"Hey, Eliot? You awake?"

The hitter had been drifting in and out of consciousness for the past several hours and Hardison was pretty sure he had woken him up when he replied blearily, "Yeah, I'm here."

"We're about to do a run through of the plan for tonight. You want to listen in or should I turn the music back on?" Hardison asked.

"I'll listen in, see what you guys came up with," Eliot replied. He made it sound like he was just curious but really he wanted to learn how dangerous this plan was and if he thought it wasn't safe he was going to do his best to talk them out of it.

"Cool," Hardison said, then hit a few keys so all five of them could talk.

Nate put a hand to his ear – he hadn't talked to the hitter in a couple of hours, "Eliot, how are you doing?"

"My nose is itchy. Other than that I'm great," he replied roughly, not seeing any point in going over his injuries again.

"Did you try scratching it with your knee?" Parker suggested.

Eliot chuckled mirthlessly, "Yeah, my ribs decided that wasn't an option."

"Just hold tight, as soon as we get the sword we'll be able to work out something to get you out tomorrow," Nate assured him.

"I know, you told me. Now get on with the meeting, pretend I'm not even here," Eliot requested.

Hardison started to open his mouth to point out that the hitter wasn't 'here' but realized that wouldn't help anything so shut it again.

"All right," Nate agreed, turning his attention to the plans laid out on the table. "Midnight, we get to Richmond's. Sophie, you head to the front as Ms. Hail requesting a late night meeting. We know he's not home tonight so this should occupy at least three guards, hopefully. Parker, you sneak in through the kitchen vents here while Hardison ghosts the cameras."

"Got it," Parker nodded.

"How is she getting past the extra guards?" Eliot asked, knowing that was supposed to have been his job.

"Hardison managed to hack into the part of the security system that controls the door locks. They all lock with a code. If any of the guards look like they are heading Parker's way when we don't want them to we're going to change the code to the door they're trying to get through and lock them out," Nate explained. He tried to sound confident but Eliot had detected the hint of hesitation in his voice.

"Hopefully they will all just think they're putting their codes in wrong, not that the system's been tampered with," Hardison added quickly.

"Are you kidding me? As soon as they think something might be wrong they'll set off the alarm and everyone's gonna come runnin'!" Eliot exclaimed angrily.

"Not necessarily. I mean, I don't think I would admit to anyone that I couldn't remember a six-digit code. I would probably just go find another door," Hardison replied.

"That's why you're not a security guard!" Eliot retorted. "I told you guys not to rush this for me! I don't want you going in there until you have a real plan."

"This is a good plan Eliot," Sophie assured him.

"Besides, I'm sneaky. We won't even need the door thing," Parker added confidently. "And it's not like you can stop us."

"Damn it, you guys said you were gonna be smart about this," Eliot growled and pulled on his cuffs. He was getting frustrated that he couldn't actually do anything to stop them other than argue his point.

"I'll be _really_ sneaky," Parker promised him in what she thought might be an assuring tone.

"That's not good enough, y'all aren't gettin' caught cause of me," Eliot hissed back. Then in the dark of the cold room he lifted his head towards the door as he heard the first sounds all day that weren't coming through his earpiece.

"Look Eliot, we don't have …"

Nate was cut off by Eliot's, "Shh."

The hush hadn't been angry. It was focused, calm and serious, indicating that for the first time in hours something was happening on Eliot's end of the com line.

"Eliot, what's going on?" Nate asked, whispering as though the sound might travel past Eliot's earpiece and down the hall. They could all hear the hitter grunting in pain as he pushed himself to a standing position despite the protests of his bruised limbs and broken bones. After taking a few steps towards the door Eliot could hear the footsteps in the hallway more clearly – there were at least three men coming, none of them light on their feet. In fact, one of them was walking very heavily and unevenly, meaning he was probably limping.

"Shit," Eliot cursed. It could only be Marcus, the guy he had pissed off in the car, and if he was bringing two friends with him he knew they weren't just passing by on a stroll. "Someone's coming. It's at least three guys. I don't think it's room service."

Back in the cabin his teammates shared terrified glances, worse case scenarios running through each of their minds. They all opened their mouths to speak but nothing came out. What could they say? Eliot had nowhere to run or hide, probably wouldn't even if he could, and as much as they wanted to be there with him he was completely alone.

Eliot knew that if something bad was going to happen to him the team wasn't going to be able to stop it so he saw no reason why they should hear it. And he knew they would listen, to all of it, no matter how bad it got, no matter how much it terrified them or broke their hearts with feelings of frustration and helplessness, they would listen to it all, trying to help but ultimately feeling useless.

"Turn off the com link, now!" Eliot demanded not willing to put them through that.

This was followed by a moment of gaping silence before anyone could speak.

"Eliot, whatever's going on we're not just going to leave …" Sophie started to say haltingly as she tried to deny to herself just what was probably about to happen.

The door was opening. Eliot only had time for one more message before he could no longer acknowledge his teammates in his ear. Deciding to appeal to their leader, the man who knew the most about him, Eliot whispered softly, "Nate, turn off the coms. Please."

Nate squeezed his eyes shut and hung his head – even while they were trying to save him Eliot wanted to protect the team. The heavy footsteps could be heard by everyone now, quickly followed by a cracking sound and a cruel, chuckling voice, "Did you miss me?"

"Earpieces out, now, all of you!" Nate decided hitting a button to mute the com line and putting a hand out, waiting for the small devices to be handed over.

Parker, Hardison and Sophie didn't move, not truly wanting to hear any more but unwilling to walk away and abandon Eliot.

"But he'll be …"

"You heard the man Parker," Nate bellowed strictly, palm still upturned. "He doesn't want us listening. Earpieces, now!"

There were no more arguments as the thieves slowly removed the devices and put them in Nate's hand.

"Good, now go eat something and get ready. We're leaving in two hours," Nate confirmed, face set in a stony mask as he sat down heavily at the table. Again there was no movement, forcing Nate to bellow again, "Go!"

Parker and Hardison did as instructed, their faces haunted and steps unsure as they left the room.

Sophie lingered behind – Nate hadn't taken out his earpiece.

"You're not going to …"

"No, I'm not."

Sophie accepted this with a nod and shuffled forlornly from the room, not sure where she could possibly go now.

Nate sighed heavily, preparing himself as he opened the line back up.

"Eliot, the others are gone, I took their coms. I know you want me to leave too but I'm staying, I'm not going anywhere," Nate said apologetically, speaking loudly to be heard over the quickly escalating situation on the other end. He knew Eliot couldn't respond but he waited with bated breath for some sound or sign that he was doing the right thing, that he was doing anything. His eyes lighted on the iPod still hooked into the com lines. "I … I don't know if this will help … distract you maybe. I'm going to turn your music back on. But I'm here Eliot … I'm here and I'm not going anywhere. We're going to come get you. Just hold on."

As Nate listened to the sounds on the other end he knew that Eliot couldn't respond even if he had wanted to. A vice began to squeeze around Nate's heart as he listened silently, cringing and jerking with every terrible sound. Running his hands through his hair Nate stood up and poured himself a double of scotch – he would need it to drown out the sounds of agony coming through the other end of the line.

* * *

Eliot tensed when the door of his cell opened. He was standing, leaned up against the wall, doing his best to prepare for a fight, which wasn't much with cuffed hands and a broken body. What he hadn't been prepared for was the flood of light that filled the room, blinding him painfully after twelve hours in the dark. He squinted and turned his head away from the doorway to let his eyes adjust. He could hear several things happening at once – footsteps entering his cell, harsh laughter and Nate demanding the rest of the team take out their earpieces.

Thank you Nate, Eliot thought briefly as his eyes made out three figures in the doorway, the closest and biggest being Marcus.

The big man was limping only slightly now and smirked triumphantly as he looked Eliot over, "Did you miss me?"

Silence over the com line. The team was gone; Eliot was free to be a defiant smartass without worrying or scaring the others.

"About as much as Europe misses the plague," he replied cockily, blinking rapidly to right his vision as he stood up straighter.

Marcus moved closer, shaking his head with fake disappointment and smile on his face, "Still running your mouth I see."

Eliot tried to dodge the punch that followed but the big man was fast and Eliot's reflexes were not at their best. The fist hit him in the jaw and knocked him down; he managed to land on his arm in an attempt to keep his broken ribs from puncturing a lung but the bones still grinded together on impact, effectively knocking the wind out of him.

Marcus leered as he bent over him, "You'd do well to show a bit more respect when Mr. Power asks you a question."

"Thank you Marcus, I think that's good for now but if he seems to forget his lesson feel free to remind him."

Eliot hissed when he recognized the second voice as Timothy. Apparently the boss had come down to play. Turning his head he saw the taller man stepping just past the doorway, still dressed immaculately in his over-priced suit, he was eyeing the room and Eliot with disdain.

"So, we have a lot to discuss don't we, Eliot, was it?"

Coughing as he started to roll up onto his knees, Eliot sneered, "You can call me 'sir'."

The kick to his back sent him down to the floor, winding him again. Timothy knelt down now, looking him over as he writhed.

"Now let's be civilized. I really did just come down here to talk, so tell me, what has my Isabella told you about me?"

Eliot laughed with the little breath he had. He was easily able to see through the man's casual demeanor – he still loved Sophie, he could tell, but he hated her too and he desperately needed to know how she felt and Eliot was the only source of information he had.

"You stupid son of a bitch, she's never even brought you up. She tends not to talk about the dumbasses that she's conned before," Eliot hissed out with a smile, delighted that he could get a barb in that would seriously hurt this guy.

He was stubbornly trying to pull himself to his knees one more time when Timothy himself kicked him hard in the stomach. As he curled in on himself another boot from Marcus hit his lower back ensuring he stayed down.

"You are a very uncooperative man. Don't think that I would have any qualms about returning you to Isabella in a body bag," Timothy hissed.

"Wait, wait," Eliot coughed out desperately, rolling to relieve the pressure on his ribs. "She did mention you … once."

As Eliot spent a moment heaving in several huge breaths Timothy crossed his arms impatiently.

"Well, I'm waiting."

"She used to talk about this guy who … who she used to date," Eliot's desperation suddenly morphed into cockiness as he sneered, "She laughed about how he could never get it up. I can only imagine she was talking about you."

Timothy's face immediately grew red with anger and he growled as he viciously knocked Eliot to the ground for a final time.

"Marcus!" he bellowed, fists clenched. "Our guest seems to have trouble staying down. Why don't you do something about that."

Eliot would have been concerned about this comment but he never heard it as the static in his ear had reappeared just as he was knocked down. A moment later Nate's hesitant voice started to speak to him.

"_Eliot, the others are gone, I took their coms. I know you want me to leave too but I'm staying, I'm not going anywhere."_

Dammit Nate, Eliot growled in his head. He hadn't wanted any of the team to hear what was going on, especially now. He didn't need to see their pity if he got out of here or have them unfocussed while they tried to bust him out, but at least the others weren't listening anymore.

Gasping on the ground he could barely even struggle when he felt a boot roll him onto his stomach followed by a knee pressing into the small of his back to keep him down. His broken ribs spasmed from the pressure and his body jerked in pain. This was followed by his handcuffs being undone around one wrist but his freedom was short lived as his arms were wrenched forward and cuffed again in front of his body.

"_I … I don't know if this will help … distract you maybe. I'm going to turn your music back on,"_ Nate continued, his voice shaking with a fear he desperately tried to squelch.

Eliot had no time to enjoy the blood flowing back into his lower arms as his wrists were stretched out in front of him and a heavy boot belonging to Timothy's second goon crushed down on his hands, holding him in place and forcing him to stay facedown on the floor.

"_But I'm here Eliot … I'm here and I'm not going anywhere."_

With a grunt Eliot tried to pull his arms free but he had no strength left and the large man's foot just pressed down harder, crushing Eliot's wrists. As Eliot groaned in pain he could hear Marcus chuckling, thoroughly enjoying himself as he snapped open a pocket knife and cut the shirt away from Eliot's back.

"_We're going to come get you. Just hold on."_

Eliot felt the chilled air hit his skin as Marcus stood up and there was a snap of leather. Eliot didn't have to look up to know what the large man was now holding and he shifted his energy from trying to escape to tensing his muscles in preparation. As the first strike of the lash struck his back, Nate hit play and familiar music washed through his ears.

_It's been a long time  
Since I wore this rattlesnake smile  
And a lotta my friends haven't seen it in quite a while  
_

As his back exploded in pain Eliot grit his teeth to keep back a yell. He grunted with the impact but was thankful that at least Marcus seemed to be using a belt and not a whip. The leather strap came down again, across Eliot's shoulder blades directly where the crowbar had hit him hours before. This time he couldn't stop the exclamation of pain or his body's involuntary response to try to escape. His knees curled up beneath him to try to move despite his hands being pinned down but Marcus laughed and brought the belt down again on the exact same spot, shocking Eliot's body with enough pain to put him flat on the ground once more. As the pain ratcheted up Eliot did as Nate had suggested and tried to focus on the music, mouthing the lyrics in a desperate attempt at distraction.

_I feel my eyes rollin' deep inside my head  
And there's a feeling of misconception in the air _

_Yeah, I'm startin' to see  
Yeah, I do believe _

Strangely enough the song reminded him that he had to look around. When this beatdown was over he knew the lights were going to be shut off again and he needed to take stock of where he was while he could still see. He had to get the team as much information as possible because they were coming for him. He knew they were coming for him.

_I used to have a soft southern glowing face  
I used to lead my heartaches away on the chase  
When you get stung with the heart of a little child_

His forehead was currently pressed against the floor to hide the pain on his face from his tormentors but he willed himself to look to the left. He shut his eyes as the lash fell again, this time on his lower back drawing blood, but when he opened them again and took a breath he took in everything about the room – one door, steel, deadbolt, brick walls, bare, smooth, no openings, Timothy smirking contently by the door, boot-clad feet belonging to Marcus. Absolutely nothing useful.

Another strike fell eliciting yet another grunt of pain. As his body shuddered from the after-effects Eliot forced his head to look in the other direction.

Two things immediately caught his eye. The next shout of pain that left his mouth covered the brief chuckle he let escape his lips.

_Well, that's how you get that rattlesnake smile_

Even as the strap fell again he grinned through the agony. He knew how he was getting out.

TBC

So, Eliot's not free yet, hehe, maybe next time. But I did resolve all my issues with flow and pacing so I'm quite pleased with the end result. Eliot probably isn't though as it ended with him being whumped, oh well. Hope you all enjoyed!

Oh and I have another **Leverage fic** in the crossover section of the site. I know most people don't check that part regularly so I just thought I'd let you know, it's a crossover with Psych and only has Eliot and Hardison but it's fun. Thanks.


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